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Ukraine: An official from the President’s Office opposes the renaming of UOC-MP

16. April 2020

First Deputy Head of the President's Office Sergey Trofimov considers the re-registration of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate of the UOC-MP to be a pressure. Serhiy Trofimov said this in an interview with Glavkom in response to a question about why the law (No. 5309) is not implemented in Ukraine, which stipulates that a religious organization that has a center in another country must indicate this fact in its name. The official also noted that this law is being challenged in court.

Serhiy Trofimov believes that such requirements of the UOC-MP, which must comply with the law and changed its name, are pressure. The deadline for fulfilling the law's requirements expired last year. "The Ukrainian Orthodox Church appeals and says that we do not need any preferences or special treatment. All we need is not to be pressured as it was the case in previous years. This is all they ask for," Trofimov said. The official stressed that Ukrainian priests, Ukrainian monks and parishioners who are citizens of Ukraine serve in the Moscow Church.

Trofimov said that he did not and will not give instructions to state administrations to stop the process of re-registration of religious communities. "Being in my position, I do not give commands in someone's favor and do not professionally engage in these processes. But, as a religious person and citizen, of course, I will defend the lawfulness in solving Church issues. I get a lot of letters and requests for illegal re-registration with pressure on the ground. Therefore, the heads of the regional state administration are tasked to monitor the legality of these processes," Trofimov said.

When asked why the process of transition of religious communities to the Local Orthodox Church was suspended, the official said that "unfortunately, this story was highly politicized." "People decide what denomination to belong to and what religion to be. But politically, these manipulations about the Moscow Church and others are fictional, hyped up and imposed, unfortunately, " Trofimov said. (Quelle: www.risu.org.ua, 12. April 2020)